Ellendale’s role in the early science of weather forecasting will be the focus of a free history program Thursday night.
The U.S. Weather Bureau created six kite stations in 1918. Ellendale’s was the last to close, operating through June 1933.
Crews launched box kites carrying instruments that measured temperature, humidity, air pressure and winds above the ground. The observations were sent to Washington and used in weather forecasts.
The station also supported a cosmic-ray balloon experiment directed by Nobel laureate Robert Millikan in 1932. The program will cover another regional milestone — the 1957 Manhigh Two balloon flight, which set a manned-balloon altitude record before landing near Elm Lake.
The program will feature Dorothy Pedersen. Her father, Clark Fuller, worked at the station and wrote a memoir about it.
Displays and refreshments start at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Ellendale Opera House. The free presentation starts at 7.
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